Unwell Identity
by Ice Wolf17
Summary: Tai doesn't seem like himself lately and the Digidestined must figure out what's wrong before the whole world is destroyed!
1. 1 What's Wrong

**Unwell Identity**

**Note: **This occurs in the Season 2 time, without the Season 2 Digidestined. 

**Prologue**  


The sky was dark with gray clouds and the night air. A moon shone dimly high above, watching the treetops on the ground below.   
Hidden beneath those treetops, deep inside the forest, were a few Digimon, standing in the middle of a cold and dreary night.  
One of the Digimon was a gray, skinny goblin like creature. It's head bobbled up and down as it scurried about the place, in search of something. It's glimmering eyes reflected the little moonlight that broke through the tree's leaves.  
Another Digimon stood in the shadows, concealing itself from the world. It's face was hidden as well as it's body, but one could see very well that it wore a long black cloak and had long, gruely fingers.  
And to it's side stood a huge, lumbering red Monochromon. It's eyes were blood red and wide open, it's jaws anxious to bite and tear at something.  
"Bagarimon." The silver goblin Digimon stopped it's scurrying and looked up at the cloaked Digimon figure.   
"Have you found it yet?" Bagarimon shook it's head in dismay.  
"Noooooo….. But I am SENSING that it is CLOSE by." The cloaked Digimon nodded and waved his boney hand.  
"Proceed" The goblin Digimon went back to work, sniffing at the ground. The cloaked figure grinned in delight at the thought of the night's events to come.  
"Soon, our master can be free again, to roam and kill. Oh, this night will be perfect." A yelp caught the attention of the cloaked Digimon. It turned it's attention to Bagarimon, who was sitting down on the ground holding up a rigged little key. The Digimon in the shadows laughed evilly.  
"Excellent my pet." The goblin stood up and took a bow. The Red Monochromon growled at the goblin, but was soon silenced by a violent hand slap from his master.  
"Quiet you fool. Now, Bagarimon. Will you kindly locate the gate stand and unlock the portal?" Bagarimon nodded.  
"As you WISH my master." Bagarimon hobbled over to a cluster of bushes and began to tear off some of the bushes that laid in his way. Cluster after cluster until he found what he was looking for. It was an ancient block of rock, hidden in the mists of a forest. The goblin blew the dust off of the top and sniggered. At the top of the ancient block, was a measly little key hole. The goblin banged on his chest and roared out in delight.  
"QUIET!" yelled the cloaked Digimon. Bagarimon fell silent and dropped his hands to his side.   
"Excellent." The cloaked figure said. Slowly, he walked over to the pedestal of rock, leaving no footprints behind him. With each step he took, the light wind carried off the soft thudding sound of his feet. When he approached the pedestal, he stopped. All eyes were on him as he pulled from his cloak, a jar.  
"Oh MASTER!" Bagarimon screeched. He fell down to his knees and bent forward, worshipping the jar. The cloaked Digimon rolled his eyes.  
"Oh please Bagarimon. We have some work to do here." Bagarimon straightened himself up.   
"Why yes master."   
"Good". The cloaked Digimon lifted the jar into the moonlight and smiled. "Don't just stand there, open the portal!" Soft thudding on the ground affirmed the cloaked Digimon's words.  
"Ah….. master." The jar's contents appeared from nowhere as the moonlight glinted on the jar. An eerie shadow-like spirit creature was locked up in there. It floated around in the jar, zipping up and down, left and right, bored out of it's mind.   
"Don't worry master, we'll get you out of there soon…… Bagarimon….."  
"It open sire!" The cloaked Digimon turned around to find that, indeed, it had been opened. A silver portal stood in the middle of the forest, glistening and shining elegantly in the night.  
"Now, we're going to set you free master….. Don't worry, we'll prepare your kingdom for you when you get back….. Good luck master, until we meet again." With that, the cloaked figure pried open the jar. Out zoomed the spirit. It floated in the air for a second or two before disappearing into the portal.  
"Close it." Bagarimon did as he was told. Seconds later, the portal had vanished.  
"Well done. Now, all we have to do is clear this place and prepare it for our master's return. Are you ready Bagarimon?"  
"Yes." The cloaked figure threw his boney fist into the air, breaking the silence in the night sky.  
"Then onwards!" The trio of Digimon bounded into the forest, leaving no trace behind that they were ever there.  


**1 - (What's Wrong?)**

"Why did it happen….." muttered a big brown haired boy. His brown eyes were filled with sorrow as he stared at the computer screen in front of him.   
His room was painted a pale green colour (color) and was messy, with a clothes pile in the corner of he room. It was silent and lonely, except for the pit and pat of the rain bouncing off the window. Silent and lonely, the boy thought. Just like me…..  
  
Everything was rushing towards the Master, as he cackled and laughed. The world of lights and machines was such a wonder to him. He grinned and zoomed past a building. Wow, this really is fun, he told himself.  
Everyone in Odaiba was too busy to notice the Master, flying in the air. But then again, the Master was also flying at a phenomenal speed.   
WAHOO! The Master thought as he did a backflip in the air. He nearly hit a car, but he didn't care. He felt so carefree at the moment. But that's when he finally snapped back to reality.  
That's not what you're here for, he thought to himself. He halted almost immediately in mid-air, hovering above busy traffic.  
Now, that's what I wanted to do… so….. Ah ha! There it is! The Master grinned on the inside and took off again.  
  
The silence was broken when a brown haired girl opened the bedroom door. She had her hand on the door knob and one hand on the door side. She looked onwards and felt a tinge of sadness and guilt inside of her.  
"Tai, are you okay?" The brown haired boy looked up at his sister. His eyes…… his brown solemn eyes….. The girl flinched when she saw his eyes.   
"Yeah, I'm fine." The girl sighed. She knew she shouldn't have that…. That empty feeling inside of her….. But she couldn't help it when she saw her brother. Did she do something wrong? Had something happened to him that he wasn't talking about?  
"Okay….. I was just checking….. Want a drink?" Tai closed his eyes and shook his head.  
"No thanks Kari. I'm fine." He replied in his calm, quiet voice. It seemed….. Kari sighed. She couldn't quite put her finger on it.  
"Well….. okay" Kari said before closing the door. Outside of their room, she sighed and closed her eyes.   
I know your hurt Tai….. But why are you hurt?…..   
Kari let the thought float around in her mind and vanish as she walked towards the kitchen.  
  
Zoom! The Master passed the huge buildings and was finally seeing green underneath of him. The Master glanced to his left and saw some roads and a few more buildings. To his right, he saw houses advancing with lights on. The Master grinned.  
Perfect….. I'm almost there. He gave himself a slight boost of speed as he sprinted in the air. 

The light pit pat on the window calmed Tai, even if he was calm already. His eyes were hurting, his legs felt numb, and his neck was aching. But he didn't feel any of it as he stared at the computer screen.   
The e-mail was right in front of him, and he read it, over and over again. Each time he finished reading it, he'd take a slight pause and listen to the cool evening rain tapping against his window. He'd stare out of the bedroom window and wonder how life was like for every other living soul outside of his bedroom. Of course, those moments lasted a while, then he would look back at the computer screen and read the e-mail again.  
Tai shook his head sadly and looked down. It'll never happen, he thought. It never will.  
  
Zoom zoom! The Master thought. He could tell he was close. REAL close. He felt the presence of his destination. He felt it clearly inside of him. The feeling made his whole body tingle with happiness.  
And when the building came into view. The Master laughed. It would all begin so soon.   
And with another burst of speed, the Master thought to himself, Here I come!  
  
Pit pat. Pit pat. The sound echoed and bounced off the walls into Tai's ears. The young teen closed his eyes, and finally closed the e-mail. He couldn't tell if he was just tired of reading it or if he was tired in general. He couldn't. Too many thoughts swirled in his mind all at once, too many to account for.  
He finally opened his eyes and sighed. He had had enough for the day.   
So Tai began to close off all of his windows when he thought he had heard something….. very vaguely. Tai shrugged it off.  
But then he felt something enter into his body just so suddenly. He fell forward in pain and grasped his stomach. It felt as though there was…. An empty, yet, eerie void filling his stomach. And it was slowly extending outwards into his arms, his neck, his spine, and his legs. It was excruciating. The pain was unimaginable. Tai yelped out in pain as he felt the thing beginning to erupt inside of him.  
"AH!!!!!!!!!!!!" Tai clutched his head as he began to recoil in pain. The thing had covered his stomach and chest; his inside was hurting like hell as he tried to fight it off. But he couldn't. He shook his head and felt his legs begin to throw a fit.  
He collapsed off the chair and fell on the soft blue carpet. The thing had apparently gotten his both of his legs and had gotten to most of him. Tai yelled again and screeched like he hadn't before. He wished it would all go away, but it wouldn't. Everything was still there and was killing him! The pain was just too much. Tai felt his body spasm; he shrieked in pain again.  
But as it came up to his head and his hands, he knew that the pain had gotten to him all over. The pain had gotten the best of him. He knew it, for he couldn't tell what was pain anymore because his whole body had just been covered in it.  
His arms were sprawled out in front of him, as was his head. Weakly, Tai lifted up his head with half closed eyes.   
"Help" he said in a soft, quiet whisper. He extended his arm out. He felt it shake….. and he felt it fall. He had been defeated by… This unknown pain. It was simply too much for him.   
His last thought was of his sister, and wondered if she was okay. But it soon disappeared as his head fell onto the soft carpeted floor. Tai closed his eyes as he breathed softly.   
In a few seconds, Tai was unconscious.  
  
Kari turned her head to the hallway of the apartment. A blond haired boy dressed in a green outfit sat on the couch beside Kari, giving her a worried look.  
"Is something wrong Kari?" A noise echoed throughout the apartment. Kari's eyes widened as she felt her heartbeat a million times faster.  
"TAI!" she jumped off the couch, accidentally throwing a pillow into T.K's face.   
"Hey! Watch it!" he said as he pulled the pillow off of his face. T.K rubbed his nose.  
"T.K." The boy looked down at his lap to find Kari's Digimon, Gatomon, sitting there. The white cat rolled her tail in the air. "What's wrong with Kari?" she asked innocently. T.K got up off of the couch. Gatomon jumped off of T.K's lap and landed smoothly on the beige coloured (colored) carpet.  
"Come on, let's go see what happened." T.K bounded off towards the room with Gatomon close behind him.  
  
Tai opened his eyes. He blinked. It hurt to blink. Groaning, Tai began to push himself off of the ground. The brown haired boy panted when he was at knee level.  
He lifted his head at hearing a soft sound. It was coming closer and getting a bit louder by the moment. I have to get up, he thought to himself.   
"Tai!"  
The door opened seconds later. Kari stood in the doorway, her hand on the doorway looking worriedly into the room.   
Everything seemed normal. The bunk bed sheets were still unmade (Tai's at least), some clothes were strewn across the bedroom floor, and the computer was still on. Everything looked normal…..  
T.K and Gatomon arrived in the doorway and peeked in as well.  
"Well, nothing looks out of the ordinary to me." T.K said. Except for Tai, he thought to himself.  
The brown haired teen was sitting in his computer chair, slouched over, staring at the blue carpet flooring. Kari noticed his brown eyes. They seemed….. empty. Something about his eyes worried him. They didn't look entirely like his eyes just minutes ago. Something happened.  
"Tai, what's wrong?" Kari asked in a worried voice. No response. Her brother stared at the carpet floor, ignoring his sister.  
"Tai?" Kari asked a bit more worried this time. Still no answer. T.K passed Kari and Gatomon to get a closer look at Tai.   
"Hey, Tai, are you feeling okay?" Silence. "Tai? Can you hear me?"  
The soft pit pats off the window were getting to the young kids. Something was wrong.  
"He's not responding Kari." Gatomon snorted.   
"It doesn't take a genius to figure that out." Gatomon commented.   
Kari broke pass T.K and Gatomon and knelt down in front of Tai. She looked into Tai's eyes and found that, indeed, they looked so empty and hollow.   
"Tai! We heard you screaming from the living room. What happened? Oh Tai, please tell us what's wrong. Please….." Kari plead desperately. But still, her brother did not respond.   
Kari couldn't help but let the tears begin to flow. Her brother was ignoring her completely. She heard the screams, his screams of agony and pain. But he wasn't talking, he wasn't moving, and if she didn't know any better, she would have thought he wasn't breathing.  
"Something happened to you big brother, and I want to help you.. But I can't unless you tell us." She said quietly. Still nothing. Kari's voice broke and she let out the tears. This wasn't like him. This wasn't the Tai she knew. The Tai she knew would have answered her with his soothing voice and comfort her, even if he was the one needing comfort. Tai was her big brother and would listen to her, he wouldn't just cast her away like this. Something was wrong.   
Kari grabbed a hold of her brother's shoulder and shook them violently.  
"WHY WON'T YOU TALK TO US TAI!" she yelled in a fury of frustration and sadness.  
T.K. was about to go and comfort her when he noticed what was outside.  
"Look!" T.K pointed a finger at the window. Gatomon and the tearful Kari peered at the window. Clearly, in the rain, was a dark shadow flying across the night sky. It had dark shredded wings that flapped in the rain, never growing slower.  
"It's a Digimon!" Gatomon yelled as the shadow disappeared from the window view.  
  
  
Ah yes. I'm writing once again. And I have loads of ideas and stories I WANT to finish. Hopefully I'll finish some of them by the time another year passes by (Man, I'm lazy). Well, currently, I guess my focus is on Falling Heavens (3rd Chapter), Griffon's Decision (Part 2), and this fanfic, which, while I am writing this, is currently untitled.   
I'm thinking of rewriting this chapter though. I rushed the end kind of and it didn't live up to what I wanted it to be. I will get to that later I suppose.  
Hopefully I'll be getting another chapter out of this soon. In the meantime, I'll Keep on writing! (And so should you)  
- Ice Wolf17


	2. 2 Battle From the Sky

**Chapter 2 (Battle From the Sky)**

Kari looked sadly at the window, still holding to her brother's shoulders. The thing that had flew by HAD to be an illusion, right? And her brother….. He was probably playing a horribly sick joke on him, right? Kari madly shook her head. Why can't I think? 

"It doesn't take a genius to figure that out" T.K said mocking Gatomon in a geeky tone of voice. 

"Oh be quiet T.K." Gatomon commented. T.K sighed. 

"What we need to do right now is get out there. Something tells me that digimon isn't here for a tea party….." 

"NO!" T.K and Gatomon were both caught off guard by the loud and sudden yell. The two looked back at the source of the cry. Her eyes were tear-streaked and her arms were quivering. 

"We can't just leave Tai here" T.K bowed his head down. 

"But Kari, you saw it! That digimon is headed straight for the centre (center) of Odaiba! We've got to stop it!" 

'You can go, but I WON'T!" T.K fell silent. Hew bowed his head down, confused on what to do. 

Gatomon glided through the air and landed smoothly beside Kari. She looked up at her friend. That innocent and sad look on Kari's face told Gatomon, that she'd be sticking by her side. 

"I'm sorry T.K. You're on your own this time until Tai snaps out of his….. situation." T.K sighed. 

"I'll stay with you guys then….." T.K looked up at the ceiling, furrowing his eyebrows. _Please guys, help us out….. go get that Digimon….. _

"WAH! What was that Tentomon?!" Izzy yelled frantically. Tentomon replied in much the same manner.

"I don't know Izzy! But maybe we can go and check out what it is!" Izzy looked at his Digimon and gave him a thumbs up. 

"Good idea. Let's go!" Izzy announced as he grabbed his jacket and laptop. 

When Tentomon appeared out of Izzy's bedroom, his mom jumped. She breathed a sigh of relief though as soon as Izzy walked out of the bedroom, shutting the door behind him. 

"Where do you think you're going young man?" Izzy froze on the spot. He turned and faced his mom with a wide, fake grin. 

"Uhh….. to the park. Isn't that right Tentomon?" 

"But I thou-Oh….. Yes, we're going to the park." Izzy's mom eyed the two for a few seconds longer before returning to washing the dishes. 

"You can go. Just be back by ten." 

"Deal!" Izzy said as he left his home with Tentomon beside him. 

It soared through the night sky, ignoring the trees below. Up ahead, there was more interesting things to destroy. The digimon could feel itself get excited at the thought of destruction and mayhem. 

It's four shredded red wings beat up and down as it flew into the night. The clouds split in half while the digimon's hard skull like head broke through the night sky with ease. It roared, letting it's cry echo into the hearts of the Odaiba citizens below. 

The digimon grinned, letting the moonlight bounce off of it's sharp and shiny claws. 'It is time for me to disappear into the night' it thought. So with a great flap of it's wings, the creature flew up higher into the sky. Almost no one could see it, for it's dark black skin meld into the night sky. 

"TAI!" Kari had tears flowing down her cheeks to no end. Her heart felt like it had broken into a million parts. She loved her brother. She was her idol, her protector, her big brother, her friend. So when he froze up like that and didn't respond to anything, Kari felt scared. She felt scared and lonely. 

"How's his condition?" Gatomon asked hopping back into the room after getting a snack from the kitchen. T.K was leaning on the wall, looking sadly at Kari. 

"It's not improving." He said blankly, not really thinking about Kari or Tai. It was that Digimon that was still on his mind. It's dark looming shadow in the sky….. 

The citizens of Odaiba walked on the streets, going home to a beloved one of theirs. The city lights were still on, but were soon going to be off. While they were still on though, they lit up the city in the night. Cars zoomed on the roads, back and forth, getting from one destination to another. 

So when it slinked out of the sky, almost no one noticed it at first. It appeared out of nowhere, it's sleek silver claws glinting in the night. It had a crooked kind of smirk on it's face as it viewed it's prey down below. 

It took in a deep breath and bellowed into Odaiba. Everyone looked up, screeched, pointed, and began to ran. Some of the citizens stayed in their cars and looked up at the monstrous wonder in the sky. 

Cyberdramon licked his lips. With a flap of his wings, he began to dive down into the city. The cries of the terrified people were getting louder and louder. Cyberdramon could only imagine the glorious music of death as bodies crunched and disintegrated before his mighty power. 

Cyberdramon was almost metres/meters away from a screaming lady when he felt something smash the side of his head. The android dragon lost balance and fell back a bit in the mid-air. The digimon cursed and looked to it's side to see a tall boy and a seal digimon by his side. 

"It's you! You're a Digidestined that the master told me to watch out for!" Cyberdramon yelled. The blue hair boy nodded. 

"That's right. And we won't let you terrorize our city. Right Ikkakumon?" 

"Right Joe!" 

"Hey Joe! Ikkakumon!!" All three beings looked up into the sky. Riding atop of a giant flying blue insect was a red haired boy. Joe smiled. 

"Hey Izzy! Glad to see you!" 

"You too Joe!" Cyberdramon growled. He had enough of this crap talk. 

"Ah! You weaklings think you can defeat me?" 

"We don't think, we know." Izzy said from above. Cyberdramon growled again. 

"Then Bring It On!" The Digidestined nodded at each other before giving the okay to their digimon. Ikkakumon bent his head forward while Kabuterimon readied his attack. All the while, Cyberdramon had his back towards them, but he grinned anyways. 

'They think they are so strong.' 

"Harpoon Torpedo!" 

"Electro Shocker!" The two attacks were headed straight for Cyberdramon. When the attacks were inches from Cyberdramon, the giant android dragon kicked himself up into the air. The attacks collided below causing an explosion of light. 

The dragon digimon flew up higher, towards where Kabuterimon was. The giant insect stood still in the air, with Izzy clinging onto his back. 

The dragon digimon held his arm back, energy growing at his fingertips. 

"Erase Claw!" Cyberdramon brought his claw down. Kabuterimon dodged to the left, leaving Cyberdramon to attack thin air. He stumbled forward in the air, leaving Kabuterimon a free attack. He took the chance and landed a kick to Cyberdramon's side. 

The dragon digimon flinched. He could tell Kabuterimon was coming towards him. So when he got near, the dragon digimon threw his arms to his sides, one of them catching Kabuterimon in the face. 

"Kabuterimon!" Izzy shouted. The champion digimon fell back in the sky, accidentally letting Izzy fall off of his back. 

"Quick Ikkakumon!" 

"I'm on it!" Ikkakumon yelled as he thundered down the streets. He looked up to see the falling Digidestined descending faster and faster. Ikkakumon increased his pace, but he knew he wouldn't make it. 

"I know you can do it Ikkakumon! But hurry!" Joe yelled. He held his digivice into the air, as it shone with light. 

"Ikkakumon! Digivolve to….. Zudomon!" 

The giant digimon raised his right paw out, catching Izzy in his palm. Zudomon slowed to a stop and breathed a sigh of relief. 

"That was a close one. Are you alright Izzy?" 

"I've been better." The red headed Digidestined looked back up into the sky to see the two digimon still ripping at each other. "But right now, Kabuterimon needs my help!" 

Up in the sky, Kabuterimon headbutted Cyberdramon in the stomach, not even leaving a dent. 

"I'll lend a hand!" Izzy shouted as he held up his glowing digivice. 

"Kabuterimon! Digivolve to….. MegaKabuterimon!" 

Cyberdramon gawked at the giant red beetle in shock. Two ultimates were out to get them, along with their partners. 'They've only made me flinch….. Those weaklings.' MegaKabuterimon flew at him, his horn aiming straight for the dragon's chest. Cyberdramon stood proudly in mid-air, awaiting his 'fate'. 

"Horn Buster!" MegaKabuterimon yelled. A split second before the horn was about to hit the dragon ultimate, Cyberdramon moved to the side. Although, he was a little too slow. Seeing as seconds later, he saw a long gash on his chest, dripping blood. 

The dragon ultimate scooped up a drip of blood with his claw and licked it. He growled and threw his arm to the side in anger. "You disgust me." He said. MegaKabuterimon hovered in the air. 

"Oh do I? You want some more of this?" Cyberdramon grinned and laughed a dark, emotionless laugh. 

"Certainly, you have no idea what you are getting yourself into." The ultimate digimon did a kick in the air, pushing himself forward. His outstretched red wings made him look menacing as he opened his jaws. His pulled him arm behind him, his claws glowing a bright yellow. MegaKabuterimon hovered in mid-air, holding his arms out in front of him. 

"Cyber Nail!" MegaKabuterimon had his move in mind. He flipped into the air above Cyberdramon as he failed yet again with his attack. The giant red insect digimon grabbed the ultimate by his tail. Using all of his might, Izzy's digimon flung the dragon around and around in the air. He eventually let go of Cyberdramon, who was headed for a crash course with some nearby buildings. 

"Oops." 

"MEGAKABUTERIMON!" 

"Sorry Izzy. Didn't see were I was throwing." 

Joe looked as the what seemed to be an unconscious falling digimon. Zudomon walked back towards Joe, put down Izzy, and looked back up into the sky. It was like a falling comet, except without the beauty. 

"I'll get him Joe!" the giant blue ultimate announced. 

Zudomon waited until the giant dragon digimon got closer before lifting his hammer behind him. Closer….. closer…… thought the ultimate. And soon, the digimon got it's wish. 

"VULCAN'S HAMMER!" With a loud whoosh in the air, the hammer descended on the falling dragon. It smashed the dragon's side. Cyberdramon felt it nail him and he groaned. The ultimate landed on the street, in the opposite direction of which he was falling. He felt his body skid along the bumpy surface of the road, scratching him and creating bruises and cuts on his side. 

As soon as the forest began, Cyberdramon came to a screeching halt. He tried to lift his head, but it soon fell back onto the pavement. The ultimate breathed heavily as it felt the pain in his body worsen. 

MegaKabuterimon flew down beside the fallen ultimate; his friends meeting him at the same spot. 

"Good job MegaKabuterimon!" Izzy said giving his digimon the thumbs up. MegaKabuterimon gave his partner the thumbs up back. 

"You too Zudomon" Joe commented. 

"It was nothing, really." The giant beast said. With a sudden bright flash of light, the two digimon de-digivolved to their rookie forms, Gomamon and Tentomon. 

Slowly, they approached the fallen Cyberdramon. He had a couple of scratches to his side, lots of bruises, and that long gash on it's chest was oozing with blood. 

Joe stepped forward, his face wearing a serious frown. "I guess you'll never learn after all of those failed attempts." Cyberdramon let out a weak stubborn laugh. 

"I guess I won't learn. And neither will you Digidestined." 

Izzy stepped up beside Joe, looking down at the same thing he was looking at. Gomamon and Tentomon both went up behind their partners, looking ahead at the enemy. Gomamon couldn't help but smirk at his accomplishment. 

"Why are you here? What's your purpose?" Izzy asked. The dragon digimon moaned. 

"You'll find out….. It is all part of the plan." 

"What plan?" Cyberdramon coughed and groaned again, the pain becoming overwhelming. 

"You will see. When time has passed, you will see. And you will fail. You will never succeed you Digidestined scum!" With his last words, Cyberdramon disintegrated into data. Izzy and Joe blinked before looking at each other. The two grinned and shook each other's hands. 

"Nice to see you again Joe." 

"You too Izzy." The red headed sighed. Lower to the ground, Tentomon and Gomamon greeted each other. 

"Hello Goma-Gomamon?" He was nowhere in sight. The red beetle digimon scratched his head when he felt a light tapping on his shoulder. He turned around and came face to face with a red faced monster. 

"AHH!!!!!!!!!!!" The rookie jumped and hid behind Izzy's legs. A white paw went up to the face and took off the mask, revealing Gomamon with a huge grin on his face. 

"Did I scare ya?" Tentomon shivered like a bowl of gelatin behind Izzy's legs. The two Digidestined laughed. 

"Ah….. Well, I guess I haven't spoken to you in a while." Joe said in a calm voice. 

"Me neither. I've been busy lately typing up programs and such." 

"Ah yes….." There was an eerie silence between the two, until the wind began to pick up. Joe sighed. The red headed Digidestined blinked. 

"You know, I could have thought that Tai would have been here." 

"Yeah" 

"I mean, He's usually the one to see things first, especially battles….. You know what I mean." 

"Yeah, I get your point Izzy. But I share the same thought with you. Where is he?" The two of them looked towards the apartment buildings in the distance. 

"I should be getting home." 

"Me too." Joe said. 

"I'll contact the others." 

"Same here. I'll call up Mimi, Sora, and T.K." 

"Alright. Fine then, I'll get Tai, Kari, and Matt." Joe sighed and looked down. He turned on his heel and began to walk the opposite direction of where Izzy stood, looking at the night sky. Gomamon followed closely behind his Digidestined partner. 

"Was nice meeting you again. Bye Izzy." Izzy nodded. With Tentomon hovering over his shoulder, the Digidestined red head and his beetle digimon left their ways. 

"You too. Goodnight Joe." 

They left the site, with a long dent in the road. 

"Well, this isn't going anywhere." Gatomon looked up at T.K. He had his arms crossed and was leaning against the doorway frame. 

"Hmm….. I can't help it. Poor Kari looks like she's scared half to death." 

T.K looked silently on at the crying girl in front of her brother. She seemed like a lost, lonely, confused, child….. with a tantrum. She wanted something to happen, to make everything okay. But her miracle wouldn't come true, because Tai was still a mute, staring thing. It frightened her. It frightened him. 

There sat the fearless leader of the Digidestined, staring at the floor with hollow pupils. No one could understand what was happening. But whatever it was, Kari was trying to get through to her brother. Each time, a successful failure. 

As Kari was about to yell something again, there came a sound. Everybody in the room looked at the bedroom door to hear a door slamming outside of the room. 

"Kids! We're home!" Gatomon, Kari, and T.K. looked at each other, then back to the door. Kari used her sleeve and arm to try and wipe away the tears that were on her cheeks. 

"Hi!" T.K called out. Kari was still wiping her tears when her parents came into the room. T.K had moved inwards and sat on the bottom bunk. Gatomon sat on the floor, licking her paw. The Kamiya parents looked worried though as they saw their daughter and their son. It looked like she had been crying. 

"Kari, is everything okay here?" Mr.Kamiya asked. 

"Y-yes." Kari mentioned, still a little shaken up. Mr.Kamiya then looked at his son. He seemed to look a little spaced out. Mrs. Kamiya shook her head. 'Everything is okay', she thought 

"Would you kids like some late night supper?" she asked in a calm voice. 

"Sure mom. Please" Kari responded quietly. 

"That'd be great Mrs.Kamiya. Thanks!" 

"Doesn't matter to me." 

Mrs.Kamiya looked around the room, only one person hadn't answered yet. He was staring at the ground, at the floor. At what? She didn't know. 

"Tai? How about you? Would you like some supper?" Everyone sadly glanced over to the brown haired boy. To their surprise, he was lifting his head up to meet the gaze of his mother's eyes. His pupils shrank, then became larger again. The colour/color that was once missing returned to them. Kari and T.K's eyes widened in surprised. Tai's eyes were no longer hollow or empty. 

"Yes mom" Tai responded with a soft voice. Mrs.Kamiya nodded, relieved that nothing was wrong with any of her siblings. She waved her hand to the room's content and grinned. 

"I guess I'll go and make your late night supper. If you need anything T.K., just ask." With that, the Kamiya parents left the room, leaving T.K., Kari, and Gatomon to wonder….. Just what happened back there? All the while, Tai was looking at the door, blinking and scratching his head.  
  
  
  


So...... Chapter 2 ends off here. Well, I guess you'll have to tune in next time for the next chapter. Anyways, so far, I guess I don't feel like writing Falling Heavens at the moment. I want to write Unwell Identity and some fanfic I started a looong time ago. Next up to work on after those would be Capturing in a New Domain and Preserving the Future, seeing as most people want me to finish those. Well, other than me watching my old tapes of Sonic and watching some Season 3 Reboot, I don't seem to busy (yeah right!). Despite my busy schedule, I'll try to do as much writing as I can. Anyways, Keep on writing!


	3. 3 Suspicious

**Chapter 3 (Suspicious)**  


Kari stared dumbfounded at her brother. 'This better not be one of his sick jokes', she thought to herself. 'Because if it is, I'll strangle him'. Kari shook her head. What WAS happening? No one could get him to say anything or DO anything in the last 20 minutes, then all of a sudden, mom pops in and asks if they want supper and he's back alive!

"Tai….." Kari said in a mere whisper. Her older brother turned and looked at her. "What happened?" she asked even softer this time. Tai closed his eyes and stood up, taking a few steps towards Kari. His sister looked at him and Tai looked back at her. T.K. and Gatomon took this as a sign to leave the room to let them talk. Quietly, they escaped out the Kamiya siblings' bedroom. 

"Tai, what just happened? You scared me half to death!" Tai sighed. He looked down for a second, then he looked back up at his sister's face, his brown eyes solemn and sorry. Kari returned the same face back to her brother, except with an added tone of worry. 

"I'm sorry Kari. I was just really deep in thought, wondering about things, pondering about things. I never meant to hurt you." 

"But you were ignoring me!…. A-and….. You scared me." 

"I know, I'm sorry. It's just… I don't know what came over me. I was thinking too much about Sora and Matt again….. that's all. I'm really sorry Kari. I never did mean to hurt you." Tai pulled his sister into a hug, where she let some more tears flow down her cheeks. 

"I'm sorry Kari. I'm sorry." Tai whispered. Kari loved to hear her older brother's soft and apologetic voice. It sounded like a soft breeze, flowing throughout her entire body, cooling and soothing her. 

The two Kamiya siblings eventually let go of each other. Kari stared up at her brother while he stared down at her. Tai smiled his trademark grin and put one of his hands in his pocket. He lifted his other hand and scruffled Kari's hair. 

"I'm sorry. Don't worry. I'll never do that again. Ever." Kari giggled. 

"You better not." Tai smiled. Finally his sister was happier now. Taking this as an opportunity to eat, he slapped Kari's back gently and gestured to the door. 

"Want to eat supper now?" 

"Sure, that'd be nice." The two Kamiya siblings left the room silently, turning off the lights. The room grew dark, save for the bright glow of the computer monitor. 

It was a quiet late supper that night. No one spoke, no one fidgeted, and no one made jokes over the table. They were too busy eating their supper, trying to forget about the day's events. Well, T.K. was trying to at least. 

He looked over at Tai. He seemed normal enough, devouring his supper without thinking twice about neatness and manners. But something didn't feel right. T.K. squinted at his friend. 'What happened earlier must have affected Tai somehow.' T.K. thought to himself. 'But he seems pretty normal….. I'll ask him about it later.' T.K. broke out of trance for a second to realize that Tai was looking back at him. 

T.K. blinked, then looked up at the ceiling. 'But then again, whether he answers or not is another question. He's so stubborn half of the time. And according to Kari, that's not a good thing since he tends to bottle up all of his feelings….. Oh Tai….. What are we going to do about you?' The young teen pondered in a world of his own. 

A couple of minutes later, Tai was finished his supper. He dropped his fork onto the plate and wiped his mouth with a nearby napkin on the table. The teen grabbed his plate and stood up. 

"Thanks mom. That was some really good supper." All of the table's occupants watched as Taichi left the table, plate in hand. He gently put the sink and cutlery into the sink, turned around, and walked into the living room. 

T.K.'s eyes steadily followed his every move. 'Here's my chance'. The blond haired boy pushed back his plate. 

"Not hungry T.K.?" Mrs.Kamiya asked. Tai looked at his mom, then T.K. 

"Not really. I ate something earlier. Thanks for asking. And I have to agree with Tai, that was quite the meal I've had in a while!" T.K. replied with a grin. The young blond took his plate to the sink, as well as his cutlery, and washed it clean. 

'I should ask him now…..' He thought to himself as he turned off the tap. T.K. lingered in front of the sink for a while longer before wiping his hands dry. He walked into the living room, swiftly passing by Tai. 

'Maybe I'll ask him later, when I know what to say…..' 

The dark room had reawakened with light as soon as Tai entered the room. He flipped on the light switch before seating himself in front of his computer. Tai's eyes stared at the computer screen, looking at what was currently on the screen. 'Hmm…… Interesting……' His hand flew to the optical mouse. 

"Ah, well, finally I get to explore the Digidestined's computer….. Geez, that took a long time to get control of his whole body. Almost cost me my mission. It was a close one, a VERY close one. Damnit, I nearly lost my cover. Curse the long process. Oh well, that's done with now. I need to focus on the next part of my mission." 

Tai swiftly moved the cursor over the 'exit' button and clicked. In an instant, the window had vanished from the screen. He repeated this process with each new window he found until he came to two particular windows. 

"Hmm, What's this? And e-mail from….. Ah, it's from one of the other Digidestined kids." Tai laughed quietly as he read through the e-mail message once again. He quickly absorbed all of the information he was getting from it, storing it for later usage. When he finished reading it, Tai laid back in his computer chair. 

"Well….. I better stop snooping and actually commence on the next part of the mission." The teen went back to his original position at the computer and closed down all of the other windows that were left open. Once that was done, he pointed the cursor at the middle of the computer screen and held down the right mouse button. Tai's free hand flew to the keyboard and furiously typed something. 

The computer beeped. Tai looked up from the keyboard to find a swirling image on his computer screen. Tai smiled and let go of the right mouse button. The swirling purple vortex enlarged itself into a wide window screen. The background was black and the top of the window bar was coloured (colored) a dark purple. 

"Time to work on the portal." He muttered to himself as he placed his fingers on the keyboard. Clickity click. The soft tapping of the keyboard echoed throughout the room, sounding like music to Tai's ears. After a few minutes, he stopped typing and looked up at his progress. 

"Oh boy, this might take a while….." The teen sighed and continued to type away. 

"T.K.?" The soft voice broke T.K.'s concentration. 

"What is it?" he asked, leaning against the living room wall with his arms crossed. The young girl looked into T.K.'s eyes, hoping to find out what was bothering him. If there was a contest about hidden feelings and finding out who was feeling what, Kari would definitely win it. She could see through T.K.'s defensive shield. Something troubled him and that troubled her. 

"What's bothering you?" she asked softly. T.K. looked away from Kari, into the hallway. 

"Well….. It's just….. I don't know. That thing that happened earlier…..." Kari cringed when he brought that old topic back up. Well, at least T.K. was more open then Tai. 

"What….. What about it?" Kari asked while gently placing her arm on him. 

"I….. I don't know. I'm going to go talk to him right now." He said. T.K. brushed Kari's arm off of his and walked into the dark hallway. Kari could hear his soft footsteps from the living room. They sounded like thunder to her. For everything seemed to be out of hand today. 

Digimon flying out of nowhere, Tai ignoring her pleas and cries, T.K. acting like a non-talkative stranger. Kari sighed and plopped down on the couch beside her. She put her hand to her forehead and relaxed. She needed some time to think. 

"Ah, finally, done." Tai said in triumph, leaning back in his chair. He watched as the work he did slowly dissolved away from the screen. When it had fully dissolved, a blank window appeared. Tai leaned forward and squinted at the window, trying to read the message that was on it. 

A sudden roar from outside brought Tai's attention to the window sill. 

In the sky, a portal had formed. From it's swirling core, a dark figure emerged. It looked as if it had tore it's way through the portal and had a tough time doing it. 

The figure was a creature with a sleek black body and vicious blood-red claws. Wings fluttered on it's back, keeping it afloat. It roared violently as it lashed it's tail into the air. 

The creature looked straight ahead of itself and straightened it's wings. With a powerful flap, it thrusted forward into the night sky, disappearing from view. Tai smiled. 'It worked' he mouthed to himself. 

"Tai." The voice startled him. "Whoa, sorry, didn't mean to scare you." Tai turned and looked at the doorway. It was T.K. 

"Oh, it's only you T.K. Sorry about that, I just thought I heard something outside." 

"Yeah? Well….. Can I talk to you?" Tai threw his arms into the air. 

"Go ahead. Shoot." T.K. gulped. 

"I meant….. In the living room….." Tai's expression turned from a happy one to a more sad one. 

"Um, sure." The teen said getting up from his spot. He quickly looked backwards at the monitor to find that the small blank window had disappeared from the screen. 'Good' he thought following T.K. out of the quiet bedroom. Since he was the last one out, he also shut off the lights. 

Tai looked around the living room to find that no one was there. He could hear his mother cooking something in the kitchen, but that was it. 'Kari must be watching TV with dad in the master bedroom.' He thought to himself. 

T.K. silently walked to the balcony doors and pushed aside the drapes. He stared out into the dark, empty night sky and sighed. Odaiba was so beautiful at night. The city lights were like holes in a blanket of darkness that wrapped the city. T.K. smiled for a split second before frowning again. 

He felt Tai's presence creep up from behind him. T.K. took a deep breathe and let it out. 'It's now or never.' 

"So, How are you feeling Tai?" There was a small pause of silence. 

"I'm fine."

"That's good" The blond said back, still admiring the city. Tai sighed behind him. 

"Look, if this is about what happened earlier, I'm sorry T.K. I'm alright. I'm okay. I'm fine. I've just done a lot of….. Thinking….. In the last couple of….." 

"Months?" 

"Yeah…… Months. It's…... I don't know. It's been hard to….. adjust I suppose. If that's how you want to put it." T.K. turned around and put a reassuring hand on his friend's shoulder. The brown haired teen looked at T.K. with a hint of sadness in his eyes. T.K. nearly wanted to punch his light's out. Or just anything else would do. Tai was their leader at one point. He was strong, brave, and wild. To see him be so degraded hurt him. 

But he couldn't do anything to help Tai out. And that made him really frustrated. So T.K. did the only thing he could do, talk to him. 

"It's alright Tai. I know everything will come out in the end. You've always pulled us through some tough times, I'm sure you can do that for yourself as well." _If only I believed in my own words. _T.K. knew better. They both knew. What T.K. said wouldn't come true. Tai was too deep in wounds to heal right away, but yet, he smiled. 

"Well, I guess you're right T.K….." The brown haired teen trailed off. The blond couldn't help but feel the slightest bit guilty for bringing up the most hated topic of the day. 

"Yeah. Why don't we take our minds off of this topic if it's hurting you….." Tai would have obliged, if he weren't that down himself. 

"Alright….. Say, you said something about seeing a Digimon earlier?" T.K.'s ears perked up. 

"Yeah. When you were….. Thinking about something….. There was some kind of flying black digimon in the sky. I didn't get to see what it was though. I'm suspecting it's some kind of virus type though." 

"Did you go after it?" 

"No!" T.K. almost yelled back in frustration. "I couldn't leave Kari alone inside of the house. Besides, I didn't have Patamon with me." Tai rubbed his chin and started to pace around the room. 

"Hmm….. Do you know what happened to it?" 

"No." T.K. replied in a calmer tone of voice. "It flew away. I never saw it again." 

"Then we should go after it." Tai said getting his coat. 

"No, wait!" The brown haired teen stopped in his tracks and looked back at his friend. "It's probably taken care of already." 

"Yeah, you're right. I bet one of the other Digidestined's already beat us to it. Knowing that there's a digimon out there, they probably told Izzy. And knowing that Izzy knows that there's a digimon out there, he'll probably want to tell us. So therefore, I expect Izzy will probably be giving us a call sometime soon." As if on cue, the phone rang, loud and clear inside the apartment. 

The two wore grins on their faces. 'So predictable' Tai thought to himself. 

"Well? Aren't you going to answer it?" The brown haired teen nodded and walked over to where the phone was. He rubbed his hands a few times before answering. 

"Hello? 

"Hi. This is Izzy. Can I speak to Tai please?" 

"I'm speaking Izzy." 

"Oh, sorry about that Tai. But we have a major issue on our hands! Can you get Kari near the phone too?" 

"Whoa, slow down. Yeah, hold o-" 

"Right beside you" Tai jumped. 'Where did she come from?!?!?' 

"Okay, well, that makes T.K., me, and Kari here." 

"Prodigious! This is great!" 

"Yeah yeah, give us the details about the digimon Izzy." 

"You knew about them?! Where were you then?!" Izzy heard soft quiet muttering on the other end of the line. 

"Er, It's kind of hard to explain. We'll tell you about it later." 

"Okay. Well, anyways. Joe, Gomamon, Tentomon, and I fought and defeated that digimon that was out there earlier, preventing it from causing anymore harm. We didn't see anymore of them out there, but there has to be something going on. I mean, it's not like you see random digimon popping out of the sky ready to destroy things everyday." 

"True. So then, are you saying that we host a meeting at my place and try to sort this thing out?" 

"Yes, if you wouldn't mind." 

"Sure, that'd be fine!" 

"Prodigious! I'll call everyone else up….. Well, Joe and I will. See you there soon Tai! Kari! T.K.! Bye" Tai heard the reassuring click of the phone hanging up on the other end of the line before hanging up his own. 

"Well? What did he say?" T.K. asked. Kari looked up at her older brother whilst he looked down at both of them. 

"We're holding a meeting here. Kari, can you tell mom and dad please?" 

"No problem!" she said before taking off down the hallway. 

"T.K., help me move the couches." T.K. nodded and followed his tall friend back into the living room. 'Well, he seems normal enough. Ah, I was probably over-worrying about the situation….. But one can never be sure, especially with digimon floating around outside. So I guess for now I'll keep a close eye on him.' T.K. stopped where he was and watched as Tai went to one end of the couch. The blond boy followed suit and went to the other end of the couch. 'A _close _eye on him…..' 

Well then, there goes the third chapter. Ah, bah, you know, back when I first started writing my fanfics, I actually had a feel for the characters. I could tell what they would have said, what they would have done,..... Oh, I should dig out my tapes. I don't have that feel anymore, which is probably why the characters seem weird, twisted, and deformed. But I try to keep to tradition. Sorry about that everyone.  
Well, anywho, now that THAT'S done, I should work on Chapter 4 of Preserving the Future (note the should), Unwell Identity, Capturing in a New Domain, and a few other miscellaneous stories I have started (which are not posted up yet). So, yep. I'll be busy writing.  
And one last thing. I've been thinking about the spacing and such in my stories. Should I leave it like it is now? Or should I get rid of the indents at the front (for easier reading maybe)..... Well, I'll think on it.   
And lastly, please R&R! Thanks! And thank you for the kind and inspiring reviews so far battraven, Litanya, coolhead15, redvind, and Taichi Kamiya. You've all inspired me a great bunch to write more. ^_^ Ah! Long author notes at end of chapter! ..... Keep on writing!


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